Gael g



(No Model.)

0. G. PPINGSTEN.

SUSPENSION DEVICE FOR EXPRESS GARDS, &c.

No. 354,071. Patented Dec. '7, 1886.

Sag. 4

w- S l NEH I" if 7 E WYJWES SE5 ilNrrsn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CARL G. PFINGSTEN, OF NEXV YORK, N. Y.

SUSPENSION DEVICE FOR EXPRESS-CARDS, 80C.

EPECEFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 354,071, dated December 7, 1886.

Application filed August 5, 1886. Serial No. 210,100. (No model.)

To aZZ whom; it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARL G. PFINGSTEN, a citizen of the German Empire, residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improve ments in Suspension Dev ices for EXpressCards and other Articles, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in devices for suspending express-cards and other articles; and it consists, essentially, in an arm pivoted at one end to a base which supports said arm when depressed or in a horizontal position. said arm carrying one or more hooks from which the express-card or other articles are suspended. The hooks employed in this device are swung from the arm in such a manner and so constructed that they lock against the arm when the same is depressed or in a horizontal position, but open when it is in a vertical line, so that the cards or other artibles cannot become disengaged and fall from their supports when in use, but can be readilyremovedand exchanged. The abovementioned features of my invention are more fully pointed out in the following specification and claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents avertical section in the plane a: m, Fig. 2, of my suspension device, showing the arm depressed. Fig. 2 is a plan or top View of the same. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section showing the arm in its vertical position. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of one of the self-loeking hooks detached. Fig.5 is a rear view of the same. Fig. 6 is a side elevation of another form of self-locking hook applied to the arm. Fig. 7 is a sectional view of the same.

Similar letters indicate corresponding parts.

In the drawings, the letter A designates the arm, which is preferably made of metal and of any desired length. B is the base. to which said arm is hinged by a pintle, 6, Figs. 1 and 3, extending through the same and two standards, b b, of the base. The base can be secured to a window-sill or to any other suitable place by screws 0 and 0, one of which. 0, is driven through the bottom plate of the base. and the other two, 0 0', through its head-plate 12 Fig. 2, so that the base is firmly held in The arm can swing about its pivot position.

b from a vertical position, as in Fig. 3, to a horizontal position, as in Fig. 1, in which latter position it rests upon a stop, 0 of the base. It is prevented from passing its vertical position by coming into contact with the sill, as shown in Fig. 3, or by a stop on the base.

To the arm and at proper intervals apart are distributed hooks D, to which the express cards or other articles are secured either directly or by links 6. \Vhen the arm is depressed or placed in a horizontal position, it is very desirable that the express-card or other article should be prevented from being blown out of its fastenings or otherwise be come disengaged, and for this purpose I make the hooks self-locking. This is accomplished by pivoting the hook D at (Z to the arm, and providing it with along end or prong, Figs. 4. and 5, which is adapted to enter a socket, d, Fig. 1, formed in the proper position in the arm A when the latter is in its horizontat position, whereby a closed eye is obtained. By throwing the eye of the hook well back, so as to bring the strain of the load under the point of pivoting and still have the shank of the hook in a vertical line, the best result is obtained. The shank of the hook is best bifurcated and its two parts made to encompass the arm. WVhen the arm is in its vertical position, the prongs or ends leave their sockets and the cards can be removed.

Figs. 6 and 7 show a modified form of selflockinghook,\vhich is madeofone pieeeofwire, that is bent downward at ff to form the shank, and a portion which extends through an eye in the arm, then upward and outward to form the eye and the two end portions or prongs f of the hook, these latter being on each side of the arm when the hook is in its locking position, as when thearm isin ahorizontal plane, but fall below the boundary of the arm when the same is in its vertical position, so that the cards can be removed and exchanged.

Heretofore a device for suspending expresscards and other articles has comprised an arm pivoted at one end to a base. and provided at its sides with lateral rigit'lly-attached hooks for suspending the cards. Such, therefore, I do not broadly claim. My invention differs therefrom in providing the pivoted arm with swinging hooks pivoted at one end to the arm, so that when the arm is turned to a horizontal position the hooks swing into locking engagement with the arm, 'while when the arm is turned upward the hooks swing out of engagement with the arm. thereby constituting selflocking and unlocking hooks.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A device for suspending express cards and other articles. consisting of a base, an arm 10 pivoted thereto, and one or more hooks pivoted at one end to the arm and at the other end swinging into engagement with the arm when the latter is turned to a horizontal position, substantial y as and for the purposes 15 described. 

